Lehigh-Towson game day report

TOWSON, MD -- Well, it's 20 minutes to kickoff and the stands in Johnny Unitas Stadium are less than half full. It's partly sunny, 47 degrees and a light wind.

The officiating crew is from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and that is significant today because the supervisor of officials is Rosie Amato, a long-time former official himself who recently gave up his seat on the Bethlehem Area School Board. Great to see an old friend in the press box.

A number of other FCS games are already under way and the wildest of the bunch is Old Dominion-Georgia Southern, which is tied at 35 in the third quarter. Maine leads Appalachian 13-6 and Montana leads Central Arkansas 24-0 in the second period. Stony Brook and Sam Houston State, no score in the first.

I'll do some running commentary, although Keith Groller will be doing the main story and I'll be on sidebar or column.

Lehigh wins the toss and defers to the second half. Towson will receive.

FIRST QUARTER

TOW at 32 after a squib KO -- Phifer starts, then Dameron comes in after one play. Where is Terrance West? Two runs and a pass ... PUNT. Fake attempt, #44 doesn't get it, with LEH #36 on the tackle at the 41...

LEH at 40 -- Fitz run +4 ... pass inc. ... Lum-to-Spadola over the middle to the 11, +26 FD ... Fitz run +3 ... pass inc. ... Lum-to-Spadola to the 3, where he runs into the umpire. 22-yard FG by Divers. LEHIGH 3-0.

TOW at 32 -- West run +2 ... Enders-to-Wharton to the 49, +15 FD ... pass inc. ... Enders-to-Kinnard, l.s. ... Enders-to-Kinnard to LEH 32, +19 FD, and Lehigh wanted an incomplete pass on the play. ... pass inc. ... Phifer run -3 ... 3-and-13, Endsders-to-Dameron to 28, +7 ... 4-and-6, 45-yard FG Soven. Tie 3-3. Soven is 7-for-8 on FGs for the year, this is his second longest of the year.

Lum was 10-for-12 for 92 yards in the period. Towson had just 41 yards of offense.

LEH at TOW-48 -- Fitz run to l.s. ... 4th and inches -- Fitz slam center and misses the first down.

TOW at 48 -- Enders scramble to LEH-48, +4 ... West run to the 45, +3 ... pass inc. ... 4th-and-3 -- Enders-to-Kinnard to 41, +5 FD ... Phifer run to 39, +2 ... Enders keep left to the 26, +13 FD. BOYKO is hurt for Lehigh here. Shoulder injury, will not return. ... Enders-to-Ryan to 17, +9 ... West run at 19, -2 (NewtonJ) ... West runs left to the 11, +8 FD ... West runs left and goes to an 11-yard TD, his 28th of the season. PAT Good.TIE 10-10. The 4th-and-3 pass to Kinnard was the first fourth-down gamble to succeed. Each team failed once prior to this.

This is one hard game to figure. Neither team has done a great job of establishing its strength. Both have done well in spurts, but something is just missing all-around. Lehigh leads in total yards 214-168. Lum is 18-for-24 for 170. Spadola has seven receptions. Towson continues to underwhelm on the offensive end. The 102 yards rushing in the half was lackluster. Freshman Terrance West, a candidate for the national rookie of the year award, has 30 yards on six carries and has us all wondering why he isn't being used more.

THIRD QUARTER

LEH at 35 -- Sherman run and fumble, Jordan Dangerfield recover for TOW at LEH-42. First turnover of the game.

TOW at LEH-42 -- Dameron to 39, +3 ... Dameron run to 31, +8 FD ... West run inside right to 23, +8 ... Dameron run at 24, -1 ... West runs left to the 16, +8 FD ... pass inc. ... Jones run to 14, +2 ... Enders-to-Sheppard to 1, +13 FD ... Terrance West dive 1-yard TD, his 29th of the season, and first lead for Towson. PAT Good. TOWSON 24-17. This is the eighth straight game in which West has scored at least two TDs.

TOW at 17 -- Enders-to-Ryan to 32, +15 FD ... Jones run to the 34, +2 ... Enders fumble, recovered by West at the 27, -7 ... On third-and-15, Enders-to-wide open-Kinnard to the LEH-5, +65 FD ... Grant Enders keeps off thew right side for the 5-yard TD. PAT good. TOWSON 31-24. Towson has scored at least 30 points in 10 of its 12 games this year.

LEH at TOW-20, FD -- Lum-to-Spadola to 13, +7 ... Fitz run left to 3, +10 FD ... pass inc.but Roughing the Passer penalty vs #12 to 1 FD ... Matt Fitz run right for 1-yard TD. PAT good. TIE 31-31, and Lehigh now has at least 30 poiints in 10 of 12 games. It is the fifth tie of the game. You want to say this is a great game and yet I'm not so sure.

TOW at 39 -- West runs to 44, +5 ... OFFSIDES penalty vs LEH TO 48 ... Grant Enders bomb to Gerrard Sheppard for 52-yard TD. PAT good. TOWSON 38-31. This was too easy as Sheppard got behind his defenders and kind of coasted. Towson's 55th offensive TD of the season ties the school record.

LEH at 28 -- Lum-to-Drwal to 34, +6 ... Spadola end around left to 42, +8 FD ... Lum-to-Haggins screen to TOW-46, +12 FD ... Lum-to-Jefferson to 40, +6 ... Lum-to-Haggins to 18, +22 FD ... Eleventh 300-yard game for Lum in his career. ... Fitz run to 17, +1 ... Fitz run left to 5, +12 FD ... Fitz run left l.s. ... Chris Lum 1-yard QB sneak for the TD. 8:17 left. PAT good. TIE 38-38, the sixth tie. Touchdowns have now been scored on four straight possessions.

Jake Peery's kickoff drilled into Towson player, and Wickware recoverred at the 41.

LEH at 41 -- Lum run to 42, +1 ... Spadola end around left to 48, +6 ... Lum-to-Wickware to 50, +2 ... PUNT.

TOW at 8 -- West run to 9, +1 ... Enders sacked in the end zone by Tom Bianchi for a safety. LEHIGH 40-38. Biachi came in with 2.5 sacks.

Towson chooses a kickoff instead of a punt.

LEH at 33 -- pass inc. ... Spadola end around to 36 ... 5 PENALTY TOWSON for 12 players on field ... Lum-to-Haggins screen to 47, +6 FD ... Fitz run to 45, -2 ... Lum-to-Spadola to TOW 49 ... 3rd-and-7, Lum-to-Drwal middle to 31, +18 FD... Fitz run to 26, +5 ... Attendance is a record 11,196 ... Fitz run to 24, +4 ... 3rd-and-3, 1:30 left, Fitz run at l.s. ... 4th down, LEHIGH TIMEOUT TO DISCUSS THE FOURTH DOWN SITUATION. ... Lum-to-Hayden to the 14 FD ... The game is history.

LEHIGH 40, TOWSON 38... on a SAFETY!!!!!

On to the Fargodome, although I doubt that I'll be making the return trip.

And that was the CAA CHAMPION? Shame on the selection committee if it continues to treat the Patriot League with the disrespect Lehigh received this season. Can the Brown and White topple NDSU? Who knows? But they will not be playing out of their class. Lehigh was obviously the best of the Patriot League, but on this night, it also made Towson look pretty ordinary.

Towson coach Rob Ambrose talked about how proud he was of his team -- but should be expect any different? This team was 1-10 last year and made a remarkable turnaround. He said "they deserve a degree of respect that most peoploe will never understand except their brothers." I'll give them that, but from what I saw Saturday night, Ambrose is not the coach of the year in the FCS.

He grudgingly gave Lehigh some credit for its performance in Towson's home stadium -- "Hats off to Lehigh; they are a pretty damn good team," he said. But he would rather talk about his own team with comments like, "It will be a great experience to see such young guys grow. You think (freshman tailback Terrance West) is good now? You area gloing to want to come back. We have to put more chairs in this room."

West, who rushed for more than 1,200 yards before Saturday night, got only 11 carries for 52 yards and Ambrose said some of that had to do with the way he had practiced in the past 10 days. "He didn't practice very well and we have a good stable to running backs that are finally healthy."

It sure seemed like Ambrose and the rest of the Towson people didn't think a lot of the Lehigh defense when he elected to attempt a fake punt on the opening series of the game -- a play Lehigh stuffed. "We didn't get this far by being vanilla," Ambrose said of that decision. "We;re nort going to start now." About the same play, Coen said, "It was something we talked about. Our guys stepped up aqnd made the play. I'm sure (the Tigers) were very confident they were going to get it. Towson's done a great job all year with special teams and there was a lot to prepare for. I was very pleased with how we handled that one."

The CAA went 1-4 in the Round of 16 on Saturday, with Maine the only survivor. Towson defeated Maine 40-30 in Maine.

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I really enjoyed reading the details of the game. I,m in Florida and did not see game on TV. The game details were great ...enabled me to fully read what happened as each team drove down the field with the ball. Much more info than reading a writeup of game that we usually get. The best of course is that Lehigh WON

Posted By: Dick Gabriel 1951 L | Dec 3, 2011 8:25:18 PM

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